Since releasing last year Nintendo's new Wii U console has struggled to gain momentum due to a lack of games after launch, and owners have been painfully waiting for fresh content. That wait finally ends with the fun and charming "Lego City Undercover," which releases March 18.

An open-world game like the "Grand Theft Auto" series, you could call this one "Grand Theft Lego," only you're playing as good guy Chase McCain, a superstar detective for the Lego City Police Department. Evil mastermind Rex Fury is on the loose again, and it's up to Chase to end a crime wave taking over the city by going undercover in the criminal world.

The story never gets dull, thanks in part to a wonderful cast of characters and top-notch voice work. The clumsy but lovable Frank Honey idolizes Chase. Chief Dunby loves taking all the credit of others' hard work. Gangster Vinnie Pappalardo is an impatient fellow. The script is well written and features numerous movie tie-ins like "The Matrix," "Titanic" and my personal favorite, "The Shawshank Redemption." The music also plays off these movies perfectly. The younger audience may not get all the references, but adults will surely chuckle a lot.

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Lego City may not be huge, but is filled to the brim with details and begging to be explored. It's populated with many Lego people driving vehicles and walking around, who hilariously dive away in fear if you're close to running them over. Driving controls take time to get used to and vehicles handle differently, but after a while I had no problem weaving my way in and out of traffic during police chases and timed missions. Don't worry about crashing into other vehicles - the citizens don't mind, and it's funny to see Lego bricks fly off their vehicles. Controlling Chase during platform sections is good, although some parts on top of buildings get a little dicey. Combat is non-violent and taking down baddies is simple.

Most missions will take you inside buildings of the city including a bank, museum and prison. These separated levels are colorful and filled with many secrets. Part of the fun of Lego games developed by TT Games is smashing everything in sight. You'll be doing that a lot here. Returning to these levels is encouraged since some things can only be accessed when you have the proper abilities unlocked later in the story.

"Undercover" takes about an hour or so to really pick up before you start getting access to unique abilities and GamePad capabilities. Disguises include a robber where Chase breaks into doors and safes, and a miner to smash boulders and blow up objects with dynamite. As the story progresses more abilities become available, and you simply switch them using the ZL/ZR buttons. That's a good thing since later missions feature puzzles that require constant disguise changes.

The GamePad is utilized well, too. The controller can be faced up toward the television to scan the city for hidden items, like special Super Bricks used to build call-in points for vehicles or stunt ramps, among other Super Builds as they are called. During certain missions the GamePad is used to eavesdrop on suspects from a distance. Chase will receive incoming video calls from other characters, who show up on the screen. The map of the city is easy to read on it, and pictures can be taken and saved.

It wouldn't be a Lego game without collecting, and "Undercover" has tons of collectibles. Using the millions of studs you'll no doubt pick up, more than 100 vehicles from cars to boats can be purchased as well as a variety of different looking disguises. The GamePad displays how much is hidden in each portion of the city, so it's easy to get distracted from the main mission. The story takes between 12-15 hours to complete, but with so much to do from robbing vehicles to time trials -- and a whopping 450 Gold Bricks to collect -- you could easily double, even triple that time to complete everything.

However, I have to knock the game for its loading times. Even just starting it up from the menu, it takes around a half-minute to get going. Starting up missions takes about just as long, and occasionally cutscenes will take longer to begin than they should. The loading screen has a nice musical beat, but you'll shortly become tired of it.

Wii U owners have been waiting a while for new games. "Rayman Legends" was expected last month but got delayed to later this year. Thankfully, "Lego City Undercover" puts an end to the software drought.

3 1/2 stars out of 4

A copy of "Lego City Undercover" was supplied by Nintendo for this review.

Jeff Hoard writes about video games for The Oakland Press. He can be reached at jeff.hoard@oakpress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffHoard921. His blog is www.yay4videogames.blogspot.com.